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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. WAEING, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND ALFRED o. BRUSH, OF

. NEW YORK, N. Y.

FELT FABRIC TO IMITATE SEAL-SKIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,084, dated May 24,1881.

Application filed October 16, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN T. WARING, of the city of Boston, in thecounty of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, and ALFRED O. BRUSH, ofthe city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new anduse- "ful Improvement in Felt Fabrics to Imitate Seal-Skins, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention consists in cloth having a body composed of fur alone, ora mixture of fur with wool or other fibrous material felted, and havinga nap raised from the same body and homogeneous therewith. This clothwhen made of a very fine quality of fur, such as that of the Russianhare, and suitably dyed, very closely resembles fur-seal skin in itsappearance. Such cloth may also be made to imitate other fur-skins. Thebody of this cloth may be formed in various waysas, for instance, byfirst causing the deposit of fur fiber, or fiber composed of fur mixedwith wool or other material, in a layer of uniform thickness upon a flatstationary table, the face of which I is made of wire-gauze or otheropen-meshed cloth or recticulated or perforated material, through whichair is drawn downward by an exhaust-fan .or other air-exhaustin gapparatus. The body thus formed is then moistened with water, andsubjected to the hardening and sizing operation commonly practiced inthe process of felting hat-bodies or felt cloths, by which the fibersbecome felted together; but at suitable intervals during the feltingprocess or between successive stages thereof, and while the body ,is wetor moist, one face of it is subjected to the action of wire cards,teasels, and brushes, for the purpose of raising the surface fibers inthe form of a nap, in the same manner as nap is raised on woven cloths.These teaseling and brushing operations may be repeated as often asdesirable during the process of felting, and also after the completionof felting. Between these teaselin g or brushing operations the nap maybe subjected to one or more shearing operations, to reduce it to asnearly as desirable uniform length.

Instead of obtaining the body of fur or of a (Specimens) mixture of furand wool or other fiber upon a table, as above described, it may beobtained upon the periphery of a large hollow rotating perforated orrecticulated cylinder, which may be arranged either vertically orhorizontally, and through the perforated or reticulated periphery ofwhich air is drawn by an exhaustfan, as it is through the cones uponwhich fur hat-bodies are formed. The cylindrical body of fur thusobtained may be hardened and sized or felted in the same way commonlypracticed in the felting of hat-bodies, the body so formed beingafterwardmade into a sheet by cuting it longitudinally on one side,either after hardening and before sizing or after the completion offelting, and being subjected to the tcaseling and brushing or nappingoperations hereinabove described with reference to the body formed upona flat perforated or reticulated table.

Another way of forming the body is to obtain the deposit of a layer offor or fur and other fiber upon a traveling cloth or apron composed ofwire-gauze or other suitable open reticulated or perforated fabric, andhaving arranged below it or in suitable relation to it an exhaust-fan orother suitable exhaust apparatus, by which air is drawn through it. Thiscloth or apron may have arranged in suitable relation with it a vat orvessel containin g water, into which the said cloth or apron, with thelayer of fiber upon it, may pass, for the purpose of subjecting thelayer of fiber to the preparatory moistening operation necessary forhardening the body to form the cloth. The layer of fiber thus obtainedis to be felted and napped as hereinbefore described.

Instead of thelayer or web, obtained as above described, being passedinto water and hardened, as above mentioned, it may be deposited upon atable, and while moistened by steam be hardened under a jigger.

To manufacture cloth in imitation of fine fur-seal skin the finestquality of fur fiber should be used; but imitations of coarser kinds offur-skins may be made of coarser kinds of fur fiber, or by mixtures offur fiber with wool or other fiber.

This fur-felt cloth, having a nap raised from itself and homogeneoustherewith, substanthe fur body of the cloth itself, and homoge' tiallyas herein described. neous therewith, is believed to be a new artiole ofmanufacture. 5 What we claim as our invention is- A cloth having a bodycomposed of fur alone Witnesses or fur and other fiber incorporated byfelting, T. J. KEANE, and having a nap raised from the felted body A.(J. WEBB.

